Chapter Two: Night Escape

Chapter Two

Night Escape

Have you ever been alone, at night, lying in bed, and felt that ache in your chest? The one that makes the dark seem so dark, time pass so slowly, and falling asleep so far off? It's not quite sad, or scared, or bored, almost a little bit of all three. It is more of a lonely feeling - like you're missing something. I know I have. I get it more when I’m away from home, sleeping in other people's houses, but I can get it at home, all the same.

That is how Eliza felt that night, lying in bed.

Of course, she was away from home. After the disappearance of the knight, a good many things had to be sorted out at the feast, but Uncle Philip had rushed Eliza out of the hall and off to bed. All the guests of the king were staying in the castle's many guest bedrooms. Eliza had her own small room, next to Uncle Philip’s and Aunt Lydia's. As the maid had helped Eliza get ready for bed, she had heard Uncle Philip in his room talking to many people who sounded worried or even angry.

Then, she had been left alone in the dark room, with that lonely ache.

But tonight it wasn’t just a lonely ache; there was a churning worry mixed in. Those two had often gone together for her. She felt all mixed up. Her mind was frantically flitting back and forth between different fears. The worst part was that it would never settle on one thing; instead, she would spin all around, feeling nervous about whether she should have talked to the knight, about what would happen now, about what the others were going to do or think. Sometimes, she would start to feel a little calmer, but then the voice in her head would say a what-if, and her stomach would somersault. She would feel worse and worse until she felt like she couldn’t quite breathe deep enough. Then, she would settle on that, feeling like she’d ruined everything.

When Eliza used to feel this way - worried, scared, or alone - her mother would come to her. She would take Eliza in her arms and sing softly, or in quiet tones, tell her why everything was going to be all right. That happened a lot after her father had died. They had moved in with Uncle Philip and Aunt Lydia, and Eliza had been scared and confused because she could tell everyone else was scared and confused. Somehow, Mother had always known when she was feeling that way, and had always come to her on those nights.

Maybe when you feel that way, that dark-night loneliness, you want your mother to come to you, too. I hope you have a mother to come to you. Eliza didn’t anymore. That is harder than just not having her tonight, because you know you will never have her, any night, ever again.

Aunt Lydia was nice, but she couldn’t tell when Eliza felt scared. If Eliza told her, she never seemed to quite understand. Uncle Philip was better, but he was often busy.

Neither of them came to her that night. Eventually, though, after some tears and what felt like a time longer than could be measured on clocks or calendars, she faded off into sleep.

***

What everyone was worried about was, of course, the Knight and Eliza. Eliza, without fully understanding it, had placed herself in a difficult situation. After the feast, as soon as everything was under control, the King, and his most trusted advisors met in a secret room of the castle to discuss her future.

In this secret meeting were a few people who you will want to note. The first, is of course, the King, King Henry the Second, a king in his middle aged. There was Sir Geriant, the yellow clad Knight who had sat on the right of king. In attendance as well was Duke Bordain, the man in the blue robe who had been on the left of the king. He was a rather cunning and effective man, and he will be become very important in this and future stories.

I will not waste either your or my time by telling you their conversation in detail. You see, they used a lot of words that made them look and sound like good people, when they really were the opposite. Adults call that hypocrisy and posturing. I call it lying - except this is the worst type of lying, because they believe it, too.

Either way, things took much longer to say than necessary, for no one quite wanted to say directly what they meant. I will give you an overview of what they were really getting at.

They were concerned about Eliza. The Knight and Eliza had placed them in an awkward situation. The Knight had gotten past all their armies, walls, and guards, making them look rather incompetent. Then he had challenged the courts royalty, and extended his game. By accepting the game, Eliza made everyone else look like cowards, and placed herself sqaurly in league with the Knight.

Well, the King had liked neither the Knights question, which challenged his right to rule, or Eliza’s, which brought some uncomfortable reminders. (In due time, we will learn more about why both of these questions were harder for the king than one might expect.)

Regardless, without ever saying it, everyone in the King's court knew that something had to be done about this little girl.

Duke Bordain was very insistent upon the destruction of the little girl and the hunting of the knight. He said they must show that anything at all connected to the knight was untrustworthy, dangerous, and evil. Then the treasonous ideas he had suggested would be easily dismissed.

Sir Geriant was less sure. He said that the little girl, though mistaken, could not be easily blamed for intentional rebellion. She was simply too young. Instead, they should pass it off as a mistake and make her publicly apologize.

In the end, they settled on a more Duke-Bordian approach to things.

Now, unlike us, there was one who had to listen to this whole long conversation. He was one of King Henry's old guards, and he stood at the door. He was valued for meetings like this because everyone thought he was nearly deaf - but his ears were better than he let on.

He heard every word - and he did not like what he was hearing.

***

Eliza was awakened by a gentle shake. When she looked up, she saw Uncle Philip holding a single candle next to his pudgy face and a finger over his mouth, signaling for her to be quiet.

She sat up and looked at him in confusion.

“Get up and get dressed, my dear,” Uncle Philip whispered.

“What?” She asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Just get dressed for travel, quickly and quietly,” Uncle Philip said, insistently, putting the candle down at her bedside table.

“Why-?” Eliza began as her uncle started moving towards the door.

“Lizzy,” he interrupted sternly, but still in a whisper. “I’ll be back in a moment, be ready then.” And with that, he slipped out.

She didn’t argue. Normally, her uncle was one of the people who got the least angry at her. She slipped out of bed and shivered. It was cold outside her blankets. She got dressed, putting on her thick and warm travel dress, some large woolen socks, and her big travel boots. Were they leaving the castle in the middle of the night? Why?

Eliza was not a slow girl, but she had just woken up, so it wasn’t until just before her uncle came back that she began to realize this probably had something to do with the knight.

Her uncle returned with an old man behind him. The old man was hard to make out in the light of the one candle, but he was tall and thin, wearing the uniform of a guard, with a sword dangling at his waist. He looked very old for a castle guard, his face wrinkled and his head adorned with thin silvery hair that was combed over a bald spot. When they came in, the old man stayed at the door, leaving it slightly cracked and peering out into the dark hall.

Uncle Philip came and knelt beside Eliza. He looked her right in her eyes.

“Eliza,” Uncle Philip began, “You are going to have to leave tonight. Without Aunt Lydia and me. You’ll need to pack and leave quickly and quietly, without waking anyone. This man will be going with you.”

Eliza looked between the old man and her uncle frantically. Leave? Without Aunt Lydia and Uncle Philip?

“Leave?” She knew she had ruined everything when she’d talked to the knight! “Why?”

“You're not safe here. The King wants to try you for treason, first thing tomorrow morning. ”

“Treason?” She squeaked, confused. She had heard of people being tried for treason. They normally ended up without their heads.

“It's what happened at the feast. It scared everyone, and when you accepted the knight's game, you made them all look like cowards,” Uncle Philip explained.

“That’s not what I was trying to do!” Eliza hissed, horrified.

He hushed her and then smiled wearily, looking sad, but also slightly amused. “I know, I know,” Uncle Philip said, standing and turning to her chest of drawers. “But the knight said some things that they really didn’t like. So, to them, the Knight is an enemy to the Kingdom, and because of what you did, you are a friend to the Knight.”

Her uncle took her travel cloak out of one of the drawers and handed it to her. “Put this on. It's cold,” He said. He started to take her other things and pack them into a knapsack.

Eliza pulled on the cloak, thinking back to the knight and how pretty he had been. “Is the knight an enemy to the Kingdom?” She whispered.

“I don’t know,” Uncle Philip said, folding a dress. “But they don’t know either, so that's why they’re scared. But hush, and help me pack.”

Eliza began to help her uncle pack her things, putting on a hat, scarf, and pair of mittens when they emerged from the drawers. After the bag was packed with a few days’ clothes, Uncle Philip helped her put it on.

“You will be going to a place where some friends of mine will meet you. They will take you somewhere we can hide you until we get this all sorted out. You’ll be safe there, and we will be able to visit you.”

“Why can’t you come with me?” Eliza said, turning around and facing her uncle.

“Because if he does, they will take your aunt,” The elderly guard said, turning to them. It was the first time he had spoken. His voice was old and worn, like a very well-used metal tool. “And Lady Lydia couldn’t come. She is not in the type of health to travel quickly.” He leaned forward, looking her right in the eye, in the type of way adults did when you were getting in trouble, “So, after this, your uncle is going to go back to his bed, and no one will know he came here tonight. I will break the window, and they will think I stole you, and your aunt and uncle won’t be suspected.”

Uncle Philip nodded. “Charles was the man who warned us about all of this. He overheard them deciding to try you for treason. He’s going to take you to my friends.”

He looked at his niece, and she could see his eyes were shinier than normal in the dim light of the candle. She’d never seen Uncle Philip cry before. “I’m sorry we can’t come with you. This is how it has to be. Your Aunt doesn’t even know. It’s better that way. You can trust Charles. He will take care of you.”

Uncle Philip glanced at the old man. In reality, they had only known each other for barely more than an hour, but Uncle Philip really had to trust him, or lose his niece. Besides, Uncle Philip had always been a good judge of character, and he could tell that this old guard was a good sort of man.

Uncle Philip hugged Eliza, holding her tight.

It all felt so strange to her. She didn’t even cry. It was all happening so fast that her feelings didn’t seem to have caught up yet.

“Why did you have to be so much like your father? Asking questions like that?” He muttered. He kissed her on the cheek and hugged her again. He told her he loved her, said goodbye, and in a moment, he was gone, the door softly closed behind him.

“Well, little maiden, it looks like it is time for you and me to go,” The old man said.

Things on the edge of a big change can sometimes seem to happen very fast, especially when you don’t want them to happen. So it was now.

The old man tied a rope to the bedpost, went over to the window, undid the shutters, and broke the window lock. He opened the window, threw the rope out, blew out both the candles, and then came and crouched next to Eliza.

He grunted for Eliza to get on his back, and she did. He was bony but stronger and more solid than she expected his old frame to be.

“Hold tight,” He whispered.

He took the rope and climbed out the window.

Eliza looked down, and her heart jumped. They were about fifteen feet up. A slightly slanted stone wall lowered down towards the sparkling snow below. The elderly guard strained, placing his boots against the stone wall and leaning back on the tension of the rope to lower them down. Eliza clutched on tighter and buried her face in his back so she didn’t have to watch. When they rested down onto the ground, she slipped off into the deep snow, sinking nearly up to her knees.

The blizzard had calmed down, with only a few flakes fluttering down. The moon was glowing between the clouds, with just enough light to make the whole world into shadowy shapes and outlines.

It was bitingly cold. Her face was already starting to hurt from being out in it.

The old man took her hand and began to move quietly and quickly towards the secondary wall that enclosed the castle grounds. There he came to a small door, took out a small key, and unlocked the door. Open, through, closed, and locked behind them. They were out into the forest where the king did his hunting. Next to the door, dusted in snow, was a very large knapsack. The old guard picked it up and put it on.

He began to lead the way into the forest. Eliza hesitated for a moment before following him.

The forest was dark.

The old guard stopped and looked back at her expectantly. She scurried to catch up. It was then that little Eliza left her whole little life behind, without even a chance to look back - too tired and surprised to fully even realize it was happening.

As you age, you will discover that it is often how big changes in life happen. You only see them afterward.